Westerly High School holds high standards for their students and makes sure they maintain these standards. This small town is rapidly growing and has had no choice but to expand into a campus (the students are between two buildings now) and has stretched the district’s budget because they had to build a new middle school. The original building is referred to as the Ward Building, and the other previously being Babcock Middle School now addressed as Babcock Hall. Being able to see an accurate account of the community, district, and school will allow for any person that does not know the town well to become comfortable with it. A few areas of concentration will be the adequacy of teachers, diversity in the town, funding, and most importantly meeting state mandated standards and the No Child Left Behind Act standards.
School
In 2006, the school attendance rate was 93 percent while the state was 90 percent. The graduation rate of Westerly High was 88 percent while the state was just 85 percent. This means that the dropout rate was 12 percent in 2006. On average, out of every 100 students attending Westerly High only ten were suspended whereas the state had 30 students suspended for every 100 students (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007). Communication between students, teachers, and administrators is very important and 17 percent of Westerly High students feel that they can talk to teachers about problems at home and 56 percent believe they can talk to teacher “most of the time or always” about problems related to school. Safety and dealing with problems can be a big hassle at a secondary level, and 34 percent have been robbed at this school before. Thirty-two percent of students have had someone approach them “one or more times” trying to sell drugs (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007). With the teacher-student ratio being 1 to 10 this makes stopping bulling and drug abuse easier to target and handle (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007).
Through the data provided by Infoworks, Westerly High School held a higher percent of proficiency on average of eight percent over the state average for the State Testing held in March of 2006. Students with “severe disabilities” which is about one percent of students was also included. The sixty-eight percent of Westerly High School seniors took the SAT’s in 2006 and scored higher in both the math and verbal section, over the state’s 57 percent of Rhode Island students. (RI Department of Education, October ,3 2007) Funding is an important factor in all of this because the amount and type of resources offered affect everyone. Westerly High spent $12,646 on each student during the school year of 2005-2006 and $14, 188,779 overall which is just 85 percent of the school’s budget and barely over $2,000 more than the state averages to spend. These hefty price tags include the cost of teachers, substitute teachers, technology provided in classrooms, materials, field trips, and paraprofessionals (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007). By spending more money on each student, the school is also able to provide several AP classes that can count towards college credit. Eight percent of Westerly High students take the Advanced Placement test and of that 61 percent “scored at a college mastery level.”(RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007) Out of the 15 targets Westerly High had to meet for the No Child Left Behind Act, all 15 were met and so this school is now "high performing and commended". (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007)
Extra-curricular activities are another important factor that affects both the students and community. Westerly offers athletic programs such as football, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, golf, swim, tennis, basketball, cheer leading, cross country, both indoor and outdoor track, and wrestling(RI Interscholastic League, October 6, 2007). By offering such a wide variety of sports, a little over 90 percent of parents “agree or strongly agree” that there is community support for Westerly High and only on average 80 percent of parents in RI high schools believe they receive support from the community. Although 42 percent teachers say they are “satisfied or very satisfied” with the community and parental involvement with the school, but that is better than the state average which is 30 percent. Yet this contradicts how parents are claiming they are involved in their child’s life because there were only 4 percent of SALT surveys were submitted by parents (RI Department of Education, October, 3, 2007).
Diversity in the school is important and aids in the development of students. At Westerly High school, 90 percent of students are white. One percent is African-American, 6 percent is Asian, 2 percent is Hispanic, and 1 percent is Native American. Of these students, only 1 percent are receiving ESL services. Sixteen percent of Westerly High students are receiving special education services which include: general education with supports, homebound/hospitalized students, and self-contained students. (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007)The socioeconomic backgrounds of the students widely vary. In a 2005 survey, RI had 19 percent of its children living in poverty. Between 2001 and 2005 15 percent of children born in RI had mothers with less than a high school diploma. The “maternal education” of children born between 2001 and 2005 varies significantly. Thirty-seven have a bachelor’s degree or above, 17 percent have taken some college, 28 percent with a high school diploma, 15 percent with less than a high school diploma, and 3 percent is unknown. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007)
Community
Community support is vital to any school and is definitely influenced by its size. With a population of 22,966 people in 200 and an average household size of 2.40 people it is easy to say that this is a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island’s capital (US Census Bureau, October 6, 2007). This beach town relies heavily on tourism as income, as some locals claim that the population nearly doubles in the summer. On average, the income for families in 1999 was $44,613 and the poverty rate was at 4.3 percent. Full time, year-round working males also made on average, $37,887 while women made $26,800 working the same amount of time. Of Westerly’s population, there are 18,124 people 16 years or older that are in the labor force. Only 3.3 percent of these people are unemployed (which is the equivalent of 606 people) (US Census Bureau, October, 6, 2007). As previously mentioned, the percentage of children under the age of 18 is living in poverty is increasing. Only 12.0 percent of people living in Westerly speak a language other than English at home. Westerly consists of mostly people of “one race,” at 98.8 percent with the other 1.2 percent of people being two or more races. Of the 98.8 percent 95.2 percent are White, 0.7 are African-American, 0.6 percent is American Indian/Alaskan Native, 2.0 percent are Asian, and 0.3 are another race. (US Census Bureau) Data also shows that as the population has increased in RI, so has the crime rate. In comparison to Connecticut and Massachusetts, RI is pretty clean but the other states are also much larger. Rhode Island ranks 33rd for the highest total Crime Index, and 35th highest occurrence for Violent Crime. The most frequently occurring crime would be property, followed by larceny-theft. (The Disaster Center, October 6, 2007)
District
The Westerly School District spends $43,946,861 on their students, with an average of $12,696 per child. For the Special Education population (a mere 2 percent) an average of $26,612 is spent on each child, which is pretty close to the state spending, and average of $25,968. (RI Dpartment of Education, October 5, 2007)In the It is easy to see that through assessment results from state that the majority of students are proficient in math, reading, and writing over the district. Westerly is referred to as a “high performing” district which means that the students have met or exceeded the standards the state of RI has set through state testing. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007) With 3,461.38 students and 336 teachers in the district, makes the student-teacher ratio is 10:1. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007) In this district, there are no teachers with emergency certificates, meaning that there is not a high demand for teachers. Two percent of teachers in the state of RI have emergency certificates (this is mainly in the larger cities) Although 28 percent of "classes are not taught by a highly qualified teacher" while the state remains at 23 percent.(RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007)
It is required by the RI Department of Education to provide transportation to all students living in the district. This includes "students attending private, out-of-district regionalized schools" Also included are regulations and standards that the buses and drivers must meet. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007) Also offered by the district are vocational classes the range anywhere from cooking, to foreign language, to even computer classes! It is not free, and it depends on what course you will take to determine how much you will be spending. This may be found at the Westerly Public Schools website, http://westerly.k12.ri.us.
Westerly may seem like your typical small town, but is definitely going through transitions of expansion. Overall, the town of Westerly is generally quiet and during the summer, a resort to many who have beach houses or just want to get a break. Right now, houses are a bit expensive but a price people are willing to pay for the quality of the school and atmosphere of the town. This high performing high school school is proficient in all standards required by the state and the No Child Left Behind Act, and creates many opportunities to those who have and are attending Westerly High School
Westerly High School holds high standards for their students and makes sure they maintain these standards. This small town is rapidly growing and has had no choice but to expand into a campus (the students are between two buildings now) and has stretched the district’s budget because they had to build a new middle school. The original building is referred to as the Ward Building, and the other previously being Babcock Middle School now addressed as Babcock Hall. Being able to see an accurate account of the community, district, and school will allow for any person that does not know the town well to become comfortable with it. A few areas of concentration will be the adequacy of teachers, diversity in the town, funding, and most importantly meeting state mandated standards and the No Child Left Behind Act standards.
School
In 2006, the school attendance rate was 93 percent while the state was 90 percent. The graduation rate of Westerly High was 88 percent while the state was just 85 percent. This means that the dropout rate was 12 percent in 2006. On average, out of every 100 students attending Westerly High only ten were suspended whereas the state had 30 students suspended for every 100 students (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007). Communication between students, teachers, and administrators is very important and 17 percent of Westerly High students feel that they can talk to teachers about problems at home and 56 percent believe they can talk to teacher “most of the time or always” about problems related to school. Safety and dealing with problems can be a big hassle at a secondary level, and 34 percent have been robbed at this school before. Thirty-two percent of students have had someone approach them “one or more times” trying to sell drugs (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007). With the teacher-student ratio being 1 to 10 this makes stopping bulling and drug abuse easier to target and handle (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007).
Through the data provided by Infoworks, Westerly High School held a higher percent of proficiency on average of eight percent over the state average for the State Testing held in March of 2006. Students with “severe disabilities” which is about one percent of students was also included. The sixty-eight percent of Westerly High School seniors took the SAT’s in 2006 and scored higher in both the math and verbal section, over the state’s 57 percent of Rhode Island students. (RI Department of Education, October ,3 2007) Funding is an important factor in all of this because the amount and type of resources offered affect everyone. Westerly High spent $12,646 on each student during the school year of 2005-2006 and $14, 188,779 overall which is just 85 percent of the school’s budget and barely over $2,000 more than the state averages to spend. These hefty price tags include the cost of teachers, substitute teachers, technology provided in classrooms, materials, field trips, and paraprofessionals (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007). By spending more money on each student, the school is also able to provide several AP classes that can count towards college credit. Eight percent of Westerly High students take the Advanced Placement test and of that 61 percent “scored at a college mastery level.”(RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007) Out of the 15 targets Westerly High had to meet for the No Child Left Behind Act, all 15 were met and so this school is now "high performing and commended". (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007)
Extra-curricular activities are another important factor that affects both the students and community. Westerly offers athletic programs such as football, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, golf, swim, tennis, basketball, cheer leading, cross country, both indoor and outdoor track, and wrestling(RI Interscholastic League, October 6, 2007). By offering such a wide variety of sports, a little over 90 percent of parents “agree or strongly agree” that there is community support for Westerly High and only on average 80 percent of parents in RI high schools believe they receive support from the community. Although 42 percent teachers say they are “satisfied or very satisfied” with the community and parental involvement with the school, but that is better than the state average which is 30 percent. Yet this contradicts how parents are claiming they are involved in their child’s life because there were only 4 percent of SALT surveys were submitted by parents (RI Department of Education, October, 3, 2007).
Diversity in the school is important and aids in the development of students. At Westerly High school, 90 percent of students are white. One percent is African-American, 6 percent is Asian, 2 percent is Hispanic, and 1 percent is Native American. Of these students, only 1 percent are receiving ESL services. Sixteen percent of Westerly High students are receiving special education services which include: general education with supports, homebound/hospitalized students, and self-contained students. (RI Department of Education, October 3, 2007)The socioeconomic backgrounds of the students widely vary. In a 2005 survey, RI had 19 percent of its children living in poverty. Between 2001 and 2005 15 percent of children born in RI had mothers with less than a high school diploma. The “maternal education” of children born between 2001 and 2005 varies significantly. Thirty-seven have a bachelor’s degree or above, 17 percent have taken some college, 28 percent with a high school diploma, 15 percent with less than a high school diploma, and 3 percent is unknown. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007)
Community
Community support is vital to any school and is definitely influenced by its size. With a population of 22,966 people in 200 and an average household size of 2.40 people it is easy to say that this is a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island’s capital (US Census Bureau, October 6, 2007). This beach town relies heavily on tourism as income, as some locals claim that the population nearly doubles in the summer. On average, the income for families in 1999 was $44,613 and the poverty rate was at 4.3 percent. Full time, year-round working males also made on average, $37,887 while women made $26,800 working the same amount of time. Of Westerly’s population, there are 18,124 people 16 years or older that are in the labor force. Only 3.3 percent of these people are unemployed (which is the equivalent of 606 people) (US Census Bureau, October, 6, 2007). As previously mentioned, the percentage of children under the age of 18 is living in poverty is increasing. Only 12.0 percent of people living in Westerly speak a language other than English at home. Westerly consists of mostly people of “one race,” at 98.8 percent with the other 1.2 percent of people being two or more races. Of the 98.8 percent 95.2 percent are White, 0.7 are African-American, 0.6 percent is American Indian/Alaskan Native, 2.0 percent are Asian, and 0.3 are another race. (US Census Bureau) Data also shows that as the population has increased in RI, so has the crime rate. In comparison to Connecticut and Massachusetts, RI is pretty clean but the other states are also much larger. Rhode Island ranks 33rd for the highest total Crime Index, and 35th highest occurrence for Violent Crime. The most frequently occurring crime would be property, followed by larceny-theft. (The Disaster Center, October 6, 2007)
District
The Westerly School District spends $43,946,861 on their students, with an average of $12,696 per child. For the Special Education population (a mere 2 percent) an average of $26,612 is spent on each child, which is pretty close to the state spending, and average of $25,968. (RI Dpartment of Education, October 5, 2007)In the It is easy to see that through assessment results from state that the majority of students are proficient in math, reading, and writing over the district. Westerly is referred to as a “high performing” district which means that the students have met or exceeded the standards the state of RI has set through state testing. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007) With 3,461.38 students and 336 teachers in the district, makes the student-teacher ratio is 10:1. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007) In this district, there are no teachers with emergency certificates, meaning that there is not a high demand for teachers. Two percent of teachers in the state of RI have emergency certificates (this is mainly in the larger cities) Although 28 percent of "classes are not taught by a highly qualified teacher" while the state remains at 23 percent.(RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007)
It is required by the RI Department of Education to provide transportation to all students living in the district. This includes "students attending private, out-of-district regionalized schools" Also included are regulations and standards that the buses and drivers must meet. (RI Department of Education, October 5, 2007) Also offered by the district are vocational classes the range anywhere from cooking, to foreign language, to even computer classes! It is not free, and it depends on what course you will take to determine how much you will be spending. This may be found at the Westerly Public Schools website, http://westerly.k12.ri.us.
Westerly may seem like your typical small town, but is definitely going through transitions of expansion. Overall, the town of Westerly is generally quiet and during the summer, a resort to many who have beach houses or just want to get a break. Right now, houses are a bit expensive but a price people are willing to pay for the quality of the school and atmosphere of the town. This high performing high school school is proficient in all standards required by the state and the No Child Left Behind Act, and creates many opportunities to those who have and are attending Westerly High School
References
Indicators of Child Well-Being, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007, from http://www.rikidscount.org/matriarch/documents/Westerly%281%29.pdf
Safe and Supportive Schools: Students' Point of View. Retrieved October 3, 2007, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/state/pov-high.pdf
Learning and Achievement: Assessments. Retrieved October 3, 2007, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/achievement/36104H-achi.pdf
Equity and Adequecy of Resources: Per-Pupil Expenditures. Retrieved October 3, 2007, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/insite-bar/36104H-expb.pdf
Using Information. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/usinginfo/36104H-info.pdf
Fact Sheet. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from Rhode Island—Place and County Subdivision. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from
www.factfinder.census.gov
Rhode Island Law Enforcement Agency Uniform Crime Reports 1980 to 2005. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/ricrime.htm
Using Information: Family and Poverty Indicators. Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/state/kidscount.pdf
Curriculum and Instruction: Advanced Placement Exams. Retrieved October 3, 2007 from, http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/state/ap.pdf
Equity and Adequecy of Resources: Per-Pupil Expenditure. Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/ds-insite-bar/36d-expb.pdf.
Using Information School Performance. Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/ds-perform/36d-perf.pdf
Recruiting and Supporting Teachers. Retrieved October 5, 2007, from http://www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/recruit/36104H-recr.pdf
RI Department of Education Mandates: Standards and Accountability. Retrieved October 5, 2007 from, http://www.northsmithfieldschools.com/PDFs/RIDE%20Mandates%202007.pdf
2006 School Report Card. Retrieved October 5, 2007 from, http://www.eride.ri.gov/reportcard/06/ReportCard.aspx?schCode=36104&schType=3
Member Schools. Retrieved October 6, 2007 from, http://www.schtools.com/members/membership/index.cfm?Org=RIIL&CFID=12213181&CFTOKEN=41648916
CR EVAL - DOMINIQUE B